Ty Cobb Takes the Whole Diamond
A thief who took the long way home, a hitter who changed his mind halfway through, a man who could not make an out, and a pitcher in a hurry.
Ed. 07.22.26
Ty Cobb Takes the Whole Diamond (1909)
In the seventh at Boston, Cobb reached first and decided to handle the rest himself. Second, third, and home, all in the same inning, all off Red Sox pitcher Harry Wolter. The steal of home was the first of his career, which is a strange thing to say about a man who would go on to own that play more completely than anyone before or since. Detroit won 6 to 0. He pulled the same trick three more times before he was through, and closed out the year with the American League Triple Crown.
Red Faber Changes His Mind (1928)
Top of the eighth at Yankee Stadium, tied at four, runners on second and third. Red Faber was a switch-hitter who almost always batted lefty, so nobody could explain why he dug in from the right side against righty Wilcy Moore. He swung through two pitches. Then, down 0 and 2, he stepped out, strolled around to the other side of the plate, and singled to center to score both runs. Chicago won 6 to 4. Faber went back to the mound and closed it out with two scoreless innings.
Six Times Up, Six Times On (1962)
Floyd Robinson went 6 for 6 at Fenway Park, every one of them a single, in a 7 to 3 White Sox win. Six-hit games are about the rarest thing a hitter can do in nine innings, and this was only the third in White Sox history. It lifted his average 12 points to .319. He finished at .312 with 109 RBIs and a league-leading 45 doubles, placed tenth in the MVP voting, and still got left off the All-Star team.
Greg Maddux Has Somewhere to Be (1997)
Game one of a doubleheader at Wrigley, Maddux facing the club that drafted him. He threw 78 pitches. Not in an inning, in the whole complete game, the fewest in a nine-inning game since 1990. Five hits, no walks, and 26 of the 31 hitters he faced saw a first-pitch strike. The whole thing took two hours and seven minutes. Mark Grace, his old teammate, told the AP that if his life depended on one game, he wanted Maddux throwing it.
